What do We Trust? A Study On Credibility of New and Old Media and Relations With Medium, Content and Audience Characteristics

The invention and development of the internet and new media forms have only made the issue of credibility more important. Many studies have addressed the comparative nature of media credibility. This study
is an effort to identify and explore some factors that may be in significant relation with perceived credibility of media. Three sets of factors including media form, media content, and audience were studied to find if they correlate with perceived media credibility. We analyzed questionnaires filled by 250 Iranians and found significant relations. The results suggest that the three sets of factors can be used to study credibility and its correlations. They also indicated that other than general demographics and behaviors such as media consumption, the individuals’ personality traits can have significant correlations with the perceived credibility of media content. This explorative study can pave the way for more comprehensive studies, especially those with more comprehensive tests and more respondents. This results show some evidence that